Mesut Ozgen

Biography

Guitarist and composer Mesut Özgen is a “highly accomplished and exciting player who gets the most out of the music he plays” (Classical Guitar magazine), as well as a composer whose works show the deep influence of traditional Turkish music. Critically acclaimed as “stunningly versatile and expressive” by Acoustic Guitar magazine, Özgen has been busy with concertizing, recording, composing, conducting, and teaching. He has performed and taught masterclasses throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and has been teaching as the program coordinator for guitar studies at Florida International University Wertheim School of Music since 2013. Previously he taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1998-2013.

Özgen has performed as featured soloist in many festivals, including the International Paco Peña Guitar Festival (Cordoba, Spain), Suoni dal legno International Guitar Festival in Todi, Italy, Lahontan International Guitar Festival (Navarrenx, France), Tarazona Teatro Bellas Artes (Zaragoza, Spain), Festival Internazionale Green Music (Perugia, Italy), Thailand International Guitar Festival (Bangkok), Nordhorn International Guitar Festival (Germany), 800 Musica Festival (San Giuliano Milanese, Italy), Smithsonian Museum (Washington DC, USA), Hidden Valley Masters Festival (Carmel, USA), Radford University International Guitar Festival (Virginia, USA), Galeria en Concierto (Havana, Cuba), Milano Classical Guitar Festival (Italy), Monzón Auditorio San Francisco (Huesca, Spain), Abbiate Guitar Festival (Abbiategrasso, Italy), Miami International GuitART Festival (USA), Yale Guitar Extravaganza (Connecticut, USA), Sierra Nevada Guitar Festival (California, USA), Santa Cruz Baroque Festival (California, USA), Healdsburg Guitar Festival (California, USA), International CRR Guitar Festival (Istanbul, Turkey), April in Santa Cruz Contemporary Music Festival (USA), Cabrillo College Distinguished Artists Series (California, USA), METU Art Festival (Ankara, Turkey), Kars Art Festival (Turkey), and Konya Mevlana (Rumi) Cultural Center Turkey.

Özgen’s Anatolian Fantasy CD features entirely his own compositions for solo and duo guitar, as well as chamber music with piano, violin, kemençe, voice, flute, and cello, including the acclaimed Blue Journey, Rumeli Türküsü, and In Honor of Lou Harrison among others. His solo CD Troubadour features classical guitar works inspired by Turkish, Spanish, Argentinean, and American folk traditions and was reviewed by the Acoustic Guitar magazine as “stunningly versatile and expressive throughout.” Özgen’s award-winning multimedia concert DVD “New Dimensions in Classical Guitar” includes premiere performances of new guitar works with visual accompaniments comprising video, interactive computer images, and particularized lighting design. It was reviewed by the Classical Guitar Magazine as “the finest music DVD ever to have come my way, remarkable achievement.”

As a performer, Özgen has collaborated with many renowned musicians, such as Anthony Newman (harpsichord/piano/organ), Deepak Ram (bansuri), Benjamin Verdery (guitar), Cihat Aşkın (violin), and William Coulter (steel string guitar). As a pedagogue, Özgen has published a book titled “Designing Technical Training Programs for Classical Guitarists Based on Exercise Physiology Principles.” In this extensive research book, he combined information from various sub-disciplines of kinesiology, including functional anatomy, biomechanics, and exercise physiology, as they relate to guitar playing. As a composer, he has received commissions from musicians, universities, and chamber music organizations. Özgen’s compositions are mainly based on or influenced by traditional Turkish music.

Özgen received a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Arizona State University, as well as an MD from Hacettepe University Medical School, Turkey. He was the first guitarist to be awarded the Dean’s Prize, the highest honorary prize at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery. He has been the founding director of the Miami International GuitART Festival at FIU since 2016. He has received many prestigious awards, such as Knight Arts Challenge Award of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Art Works Grant of the National Endowment for the Arts.

SPECIALTIES:

Classical guitar (beginning to advanced)
Flamenco guitar (beginning)
Technical training
Exercise physiology

LANGUAGES:

English, Turkish